Victorian regulator puts AGL on notice over dodgy energy data

Victoria’s energy regulator has threatened to review the retail license of the state’s biggest energy provider over its failure to submit accurate reporting statistics.

The Essential Services Commission (ESC) has told AGL to get its house in order after it admitted it could not provide crucial data on its performance.

The ECS says it will initiate a review of AGL’s licence to sell electricity and natural gas in Victoria if the energy retailer cannot supply accurate and reliable data to the regulator by the end of October.

Commission chair, Ron Ben-David, said AGL has an obligation to provide performance data on a regular basis.

“We, and the community, hold energy retailers to the highest levels of account and that requires retailers to give us regular and reliable data,” Dr Ben-David said.

Since the market was opened in the 1990s, all energy retailers operating in Victoria have been required to provide data to the commission on a quarterly basis to promote transparency about how the market is operating.

“It is extraordinary to think that AGL, the biggest retailer in the state, can’t even tell us how many customers it has at the moment,” Dr Ben-David said.

AGL is said to supply almost a quarter of all electricity and gas customers in Victoria. However, it has told the commission it is unable to provide data on:

the number of customers AGL has disconnected

the number of customers who had their bills estimated

how many customers are receiving a solar feed-in tariff

the number of customers it has enrolled in its hardship programs

how many of AGL’s customers are falling behind on paying their bills

how long customers are kept waiting when they call AGL

“This is not just about data. The community has a right to know what’s happening in the energy market and AGL is denying the community that right,” Dr Ben-David said.

The commission has warned AGL that if it fails to provide accurate and reliable data by 31 October, it will immediately initiate a review of whether AGL has the technical capacity to operate in accordance with its licence to operate in Victoria.

AGL has admitted providing flawed data about the number of complaints it has received from households and businesses https://t.co/fgvIvns7ij

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